Monday, 11 January 2010

More lies about Allah as Malay word for God

Hindu Indians predate Arabs and shape the Malay language moreprofoundly than Arab which meant that Allah had never been the wordfor God in Malay.The word for God in Malay is Tuhan or Dewa.

And the Arabs didn't come as Arabs but as preachers so they don'tbring with them the Arabic pagan description of Allah, let alone theother number of gods that the pagan Arabs pray to.

The Arabic word for God is ILA, and Muslims use this word more than 5times a year in their daily prayers. Allah is a special name for Godwith pure monotheistic properties not to be shared with otherreligions,because it shaped the belief of Muslims.

Allah is one of the many god's names in Arabic, but why on earth didthe Christians use Allah as a translation of God as stated in theEnglish Bible.

We are talking about Malay translation where Allah has always been thename of the MUSLIM god, not God itself. For God the Malays use Tuhan,and Malays use it everyday again in their prayers in Malay.In Arabic Muslims use the word ILA to mean God, nor ALLAH.

Why should Christians want to mis translate Allah into God in Arabicand Malay, and why only translate it in Muslim majority areas, if notto mislead Muslims and non-Muslims alike that the Christian God isexactly the same as the Muslim God.

The damage could already had been done. Many Christians in Malaysiaand Indonesia already believe that Allah is the same in Islam andChristianity which implies that Islam also accepts Trinity concept.This is blasphemy of the highest kind in Islam. Any of such Christiansshould be reoriented to the correct Christianity teaching instead ofconfusing it with Islam. Just because it is done in public does notmean that it is right. In fact it is worse.

Any Christians, who think that their God is exactly the same as theMuslim God is being Misled and cheated of the highest kind as well andmust be stopped and corrected. It is not fair to these Christians andto Muslims.

The only way out is for them to choose other names of God to representthe Chrisitan gods, just like the Arabs who use adjectives in additionto Allah-Alhab(Allah the father) in order to distinguish their Godfrom the Muslim God. That is more fair.

Malaysia Catholics allowed to call God 'Allah' again. Why the fuss?Islam, like Christianity and Judaism, worships the God of Abraham. Sowhy is Malaysia's government trying to prevent Catholics from callingGod 'Allah?'

Temple demolitions anger Malaysia IndiansPro-Muslim tilt in Malaysia's courtsBlog: Amid furor, Malaysia delays woman's caningA judge, responding to a suit filed by the editor of The Herald, aCatholic weekly distributed primarily to Catholics in the Malaysianportions of Borneo, found that an earlier government restrictionallowing the term only to be used by Muslims was unconstitutional.

But the freedom to use what is commonly understood to be the genericword for the God of Abraham – in both Malaysian and in the closelyrelated language of Indonesian – may not last long. On Jan. 4, thegovernment said it would appeal the ruling. The official state newsagency Bernama reported that "the Home Minister had justified the banon grounds of national security and to avoid misunderstanding andconfusion among Muslims."

The government's sensitivity on the issue seems to have less to dowith linguistic precision and more to do with the complicated roleIslam has come to play in Malaysia's political life. The country isabout 60 percent Muslim, with most adherents belonging to the ethnic-Malay majority. But a sizable number of ethnic Malays on Borneo areChristian, both members of the Catholic church and various Protestantgroups. A large portion of the country's ethnic-Chinese minority areChristians as well, with a smaller group of its ethnic-Indianpopulation adhering to the faith.

The Malay word for "god" has been "Allah" for centuries, reflectingthe strong Arab linguistic and cultural influence on the MalayPeninsula and the sprawling string of Islands in the area once knownas the Malay Archipelago but now mostly controlled by modernIndonesia. Arab traders came to dominate the important Malacca Straitin the 13th and 14th centuries, which linked the markets of Asia tothe Middle East and Europe, leading to both the spread of Islam and ofArabic influence on local languages throughout the islands.

"Allah yang maha kuasa," or "almighty God," is a phrase that istypically heard in Catholic churches in Sarawak, Borneo, and inProtestant churches on Sumatra in Indonesia. The word "Allah" ofcourse, is also voiced to the heavens by Palestinian Christians inBethlehem at Christmas and is used by the Eastern Orthodox Christiansin Egypt, commonly referred to as Copts.

That this use of "Allah" is largely uncontroversial in the Arab world,which has plenty of religious conflicts of its own, points to theunusual nature of the Malaysian government's effort.

Political Islam has become a more important force in Malaysian societyin the past 30 years, and Malaysia operates under two sets of law –one for Muslims, and one for everyone else. Alcohol is freelyavailable in much of the country, though it's technically illegal forMuslims to drink it. That distinction led to a Muslim woman, who hadordered a beer in a Kuala Lumpur restaurant, to almost be caned lastyear. Malaysia also has a number of casinos, but national identitycards are checked at the door to keep Muslims out.

The most militant of Malaysia's Muslims have warned of efforts to"Christianize" the country and alleged at the time the governmentbanned the Catholic use of the word "Allah" that its use wasdeliberately confusing and could be used in an effort to win converts.The Catholic church in Malaysia has argued that it was simply usingthe word best understood by its parishioners.

The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) is the most powerful grouppushing for Islam to have greater influence over Malaysia's politicallife, and currently has 23 seats in the national Parliament. PAS hasfavored the ban in the past, and in a statement on Monday said it was"disappointed" with the high court ruling but urged followers to staycalm.

"PAS is worried that allowing the use of the name Allah in thispublication will create confusion among Muslims, especially amongconverts and those wanting to draw closer to Islam,'' the Party saidin a statement. The party said restrictions on use of the word areimportant to "close the door to wickedness for the Muslim community"and added that "it needs to be stressed that PAS is not opposed tofreedom of religion."